Earlier this year, they were Academy Awards 'rivals." Now The Artist's Oscar-winning charmer Jean Dujardin and Hugo helmer Martin Scorsese are looking to collaborate on the director’s upcoming project, The Wolf of Wall Street.

It makes sense. Scorsese likely adored Dujardin and Michel Hazanavicius' ode to Hollywood’s Golden Age, and probably would have embraced The Artist publicly if it weren't competing against Scorsese’s own cinematic tribute in Hugo for Oscar’s top prize. But the effervescent and effusive Dujardin has several tools in his bag, and could put them to good use in Scorsese’s stocks-and-bonds drama. Variety says the French thespian is in negotiations to join Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill in the based-on-a-true-story account of Wall Street trader Jordan Belfort, who plugged into the high stakes world of Manhattan finances and brought with this newfound passion a serious desire to party. Hard.

The trade says Dujardin would play Jean-Jacques Handali, a "suave Swiss banker involved in laundering illicit funds for the protag's firm." In addition to Dujardin, Scorsese is trying to button down Friday Night Lights star Kyle Chandler as the FBI agent dedicated to bringing Belfort (DiCaprio) to justice.

We stopped questioning Scorsese and DiCaprio after Gangs of New York. Whatever they want to try together, we’re on board for it. Adding Dujardin is an unexpected twist, but it’s evident the man knows how to act, and this part seems tailored to his strengths. Before Wolf, he’ll pop up in The Weinstein Company's comedy The Players, while Variety says he’s also attached to join Tim Roth in the spy thriller Mobius.